


Violin

by eerian_sadow



Series: ProwlxJazz Anniversary Challenge 2019 [1]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-21 06:35:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20689094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eerian_sadow/pseuds/eerian_sadow
Summary: Prowl is an Enforcer with the Praxian Guard. Jazz is a musician, busking on the street while trying to break into the industry. Their first, and second, meeting is surprisingly pleasant.





	Violin

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the ProwlxJazz community's 12th Anniversary challenge on Dreamwidth. Filling the prompt "faces on the street"

The music was gentle as it floated across the square, soft and sweet with a hopeful air. Prowl wasn't certain he had heard anything quite like it before, and he paused to look for the source.

He couldn't take long to look without risking a reprimand for dallying instead of patrolling his beat, but he could at least memorize the face of the musician before he had to go.

Jazz was just finishing a song when he felt someone watching him. It wasn't unusual, since he was the only musician who played a cyber violin in this part of town, but he looked up to see who it was anyway. No sense in tempting fate or thieves, after all. 

The mech he saw looking back was an Enforcer, black and white with red details that made his blue optics stand out vividly. There was a small smile curling the enforcers lips upward, a subtle expression that conveyed just how much he was really smiling on the inside.

Praxian Enforcers never, ever smiled on duty. Like the Primal Guard in Iacon, they were all business all the time.

Jazz smiled back. 

The Enforcer's wings flicked up in response. Then the mech's expression fell into the hard lines of an officer on duty as he raised a hand to his comm suite. He turned away quickly, and Jazz was strangely disappointed to see him go.

"Jazz, Jazz!" His observations were interrupted as one of his regular patrons, a small youngling being raised by one of the shopkeepers on the block, ran up with a couple of shanix in her hand. "Will you play me a song?"

"Course I will, sweetspark." He smiled brightly at the youngling and waved to her guardian where he was watching in the window. Then he lifted his violin back into place and started playing a fast dancing song.

As he drove back to the shopping district, Prowl tried not to think about the odds of seeing the street musician after so many joors. He had responded immediately when he had been called in to backup a pair of his colleagues, but catching their suspect and loading him into a transport had taken much longer than it should have. Especially since the mech had assaulted the younger of his colleagues and that required filing additional datawork.

Now that his time was his own again, though, he couldn’t stop thinking about the sweet melody and beautiful smile.

Street musicians, as a general rule, did not smile at Enforcers. They were rarely given a reason to, since their interactions were not often favorable. But this mech had smiled, and that alone would have made Prowl look twice, even if he hadn’t played such lovely music.

Music that he realized he could hear faintly as he approached the intersection where he had seen the mech earlier. Prowl pulled over to the walkway and transformed, wanting to hear as much of the music as he could without his engine masking the sound. It was as lovely as before, though the beat was faster and more reminiscent of a popular tune than the previous classical ballad.

When he came around the corner and saw the group of younglings dancing in front of the musician, he understood the change. 

The street musician was still playing the cyber violin, though he didn’t have his optical band switched off as he lost himself in the music the same way he had previously. He appeared to be keeping watch over the younglings in front of him, in fact, though his instrument case was overflowing with shanix on the sidewalk in front of him. 

He smiled again, when he caught sight of Prowl and the Enforcer returned it with a small wave before he could think about stopping himself.

Prowl stepped closer, not quite close enough to be drawn into the erratic dancing of the younglings, but enough that the music vibrated off the sensors in his wings. Despite the song being outside his usual tastes, thanks to the skill of the player it was as easy to lose himself in as any classic ballad had ever been.

He was jolted back into the real world after a few groons by the musician speaking. “Hey, bits. Let’s play something nice for the officer. Seems like he’s a fan, too.”

The mech’s voice was accented with a dialect that Prowl couldn’t identify immediately, but it was as sweet to listen to as his music. “Thank you. My tastes aren’t exactly the same as the younglings.”

“I thought maybe not, considering what I was playing when I saw you earlier.” The musician gave him another brilliant smile. “Do you dance, officer?”

“Not since I was their age.” Prowl gestured at the younglings.

“Hm. All right, no waltzes then.” Half of the mech’s optical band dimmed in a wink. “But I think I know just the thing.”

The younglings all sat down on the sidewalk in front of the musician and Prowl found himself joining them a moment later. Once everyone was seated, he began playing.

Prowl offlined his optics again as he listened. He didn’t recognize the piece, but it reminded him of one of the symphonies his sire had played often in his youth. His spark warmed at the memory.

Some of the younglings were gone when the song was over and he brought his optics back online. But one small femme had her hands clasped dramatically over her spark chamber and another was clapping loudly. 

“That was beautiful,” Prowl told him. “It reminded me of Starfall’s ‘Mythril Symphony’.”

“Good audio, mech.” The musician beamed at him. “Was just the violin section, though. It sounds different when my brother’s here to play with me.”

“Perhaps, but this was a unique version of the symphony, regardless. Thank you.” And it was. He had enjoyed it more than any arrangement since the one his sire had played so long ago, even if he hadn't recognized without full accompaniment.

“Was my pleasure.”

“I would enjoy discussing it over coolant and cakes,” Prowl said the words in a rush, knowing that he was being incredibly forward but suddenly wanting to spend just a bit more time with this mech before he moved on to another corner or another city. 

“I can’t tonight.” The mech gestured to the younglings still sitting on the sidewalk, all of them watching the adults attentively. “But I’m free tomorrow, after five.”

The fifth joor was when he would be, on a normal day, ending his own patrol. He would make sure to be available. “I am free then as well.”

“Great. I’ll meet you here?”

In public, where people who knew him would be able to see who he left with and what direction they had gone. It was a smart strategy. “That is acceptable. Thank you.”

“No, thank you. Ain’t every day a handsome Enforcer asks me to talk about music with him.” The musician grinned again. “I’m Jazz, by the way.”

“Prowl.” He smiled again and pretended that the younglings hadn't just started chattering about love at first sight.


End file.
